NYPD finishes rollout of body cameras for patrol officers

NEW YORK (WABC) -- More than 20,000 uniformed patrol officers in the NYPD are now equipped with body cameras after the department completed a rollout of the deployment.

The NYPD says it will give about 4,000 cameras to the department's specialty units by August.

Thousands of cameras were temporarily taken out of service after one of them exploded last October. An investigation revealed a battery damaged by a paper clip used to reset the device was to blame for the blast.

The NYPD says this is the largest body camera deployment in the U.S.

The department says it has recorded 3.5 million videos since 2017.

A court ruled last month that body camera footage is subject to public disclosure under New York law.